Proposal of an Integrated Design Support Environment Based on the Model of Synthesis

Abstract

Abstract We propose a new integrated computational environment, called a Knowledge Intensive Engineering Framework (KIEF), to support design object modeling, during engineering design process that requires a variety of design object models, such as a geometric model, a control model, and a finite element model. KIEF is capable of guiding designers with design process knowledge based on a model of synthesis, of integrating multiple design object models, and of maintaining consistency among these models. The design process knowledge is a result of a research project we conduct to establish a model of synthesis. This model formalizes design process knowledge in a design process as operations to a multiple model-based reasoning system, such as KIEF, and from a language of synthesis. We describe a prototype system that incorporates design process knowledge to KIEF and illustrate an example design on it.